Yes...It Matters...

There is a story about a man on a beach helping the many starfish washed up onshore following a storm.

Another man witnessing this scoffed at him by trying to point out there were so many what possible difference could it make.

As the starfish saver picked up another one tossing it back into the ocean he said, "Well it makes a difference to this one."

If you've been reading this blog long you will know how

I often use the analogy of the importance ripple effects are in how we touch other lives.  For you see it is our ripple effects which may just make that starfish difference to somebody. 

In my recent blog here, "A Very Touching Powerful Encounter," I told the story how exhausted after a long day flying from Seattle to Baltimore hindered by storm delays, I got into a vehicle parked where taxi's are waiting.

I had entered the car of a lady named Jenny who immediately sensed something in me.  She began asking questions about how I managed to be so positive living in a body like mine attaining happiness.  

I sensed an urgency in her voice and passed along some of the important things I have embraced on this journey of mine as Jenny filled numerous napkins by writing down all I shared.

After we arrived at my home Jenny told me something astounding.  She had just buried her husband of many years due to cancer.  Her daughter became furious after the funeral as she expected her mother to make major decisions immediately.  As Jenny dropped her off at the airport things became so ugly her daughter left in a rage.  That's when Jenny made the decision to drive home, pull in the garage, keep the car running and end her life.

At that precise moment I suddenly plunge into her car assuming I was plunging into a cab and then literally save her life.  So she was seriously wondering if I were an angel because in her eyes I just had to be an angel.  I assured her I couldn't possibly be as swear words had this tendency to come flying out of my mouth a little too much.😂

We shall return to Jenny in a moment. 

I have written how myself and ten other students had the honour of having been chosen for Dr. Sonderling's last Scene Painting class and the special bond we all shared.  One day early on in the class Dr. Sonderling asked if we happened to notice the Theatre Department cleaning lady and if any of us knew her name.  Half the class had never even noticed the Theatre Department had a cleaning lady let alone know her name.  But one of us did.  When I told Dr. Sonderling her name was Mrs. Spencer he was not surprised I would be the one who knew.

My four mentor friends constantly said I have this way of drawing people in by turning strangers into friends no matter who they are.  For not only do I warmly engage people in conversation I am a hopeless empath.  So by the age of three living the horrendous childhood I had, I began making friends to fill the tragic void of having such unstable violent parents who could never love or accept me.  And this is how my friends of all ages and walks loved me into who I am.

Thus I could not only tell Dr. Sonderling and my fellow ten Scene Painters Mrs. Spencer's name but how many children she had, how her husband had been killed in a car accident forcing her to become a cleaning lady and they were living in a one bedroom apartment.

When my classmates and Dr. Sonderling who thought he fully knew Mrs. Spencer's situation learned all this about her they sincerely took notice and also became friends with her.  Eventually as our kindness in helping Mrs. Spencer spread throughout the entire Theatre Department including our professors and beyond, Mrs. Spencer and her children ended up being in their own Habitat For Humanity type home!

See the ripple effects when we realize how kindness may make a difference to each starfish?

Back to Jenny.  We kept in touch until she too passed away years later due to cancer.  Yet after our encounter in the "cab" her life became a full happy one again.  Her daughter?  The day following that airport scene she called in tears begging her Mother's forgiveness for how she acted.

When Jenny told her the powerful encounter she had with me, the experience had an impact upon her too and she couldn't wait to meet me.

Just before Jenny died she gave her daughter a very special notebook filled with clear pages to insert items in.  Within each page endearingly preserved were each of the napkins Jenny carefully wrote down what I had learned from my own journey I shared with her that night.

So you see my dear ones, every starfish matters.  And sometimes you just never know when you will be the starfish saver who makes a difference or the starfish whose life will be changed.  

Either way you matter.